RCMP respond to ceremony complaint
INDIGENOUS CHIEF SAYS ‘STAY OFF OUR LANDS’
An Indigenous leader is telling the RCMP to stay off reserve land after armed officers were dispatched to break up a sacred ceremony.
“These are First Nations lands. This is Indian land. Stay off our lands unless you are invited,” said Chief Bobby Cameron of the Federation of
Sovereign Indigenous Nations.
Public health orders do not supersede First Nations law and treaties, asserts Cameron, who added that maintaining tradition and ceremony is even more important during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Our ceremonies, our sun dances, our sweat lodges, our pipe ceremonies will continue and no matter what any government or what the RCMP may try to say or do, those ways are going to continue.”
While powwows across the country have been cancelled, traditional ceremonies cannot be delayed, Cameron said. They cannot move online, like many church services, because they are inherently connected to the land.
Concern arose last weekend when about 35 people took part in a sundance ceremony organized by Clay Sutherland on the Beardy’s and Okemasis Cree Nation, about 90 kilometres northeast of Saskatoon. An elder had received a vision that it was important to hold the sacred ceremony to support people during COVID-19 and to empower scientists and researchers to find a cure, Sutherland said.
A public health order in Saskatchewan limits gatherings to 10 people.
Sutherland said precautions were put in place and direction from the First Nation’s leadership was followed. People coming to the ceremony from off-reserve had their temperatures checked and were advised to self-isolate for the following two weeks.
The sun-dance ceremony began Friday when a ninemetre-wide circular lodge was built using poplar trees. For three days, from sun-up to sundown, people danced, prayed and fasted.
On Friday night, Sutherland was informed by the First Nation’s chief that he had been contacted by the federal First Nations and Inuit Health branch and was directed to shut down the ceremony. However, Sutherland said, the chief allowed it to continue.
Saskatchewan RCMP say they received two reports of a large public gathering at the First Nation on Sunday.